"New Old Sea Songs" - The Back Story of a New Brand of Maritime Folk Music

February 25, 2018

In December of 2013, I met British composer Peter Dyson at the annual Christmas party at the British Consulate in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. We discovered we were both musically inclined expat residents for almost 20 years, but we had somehow never met. Peter mentioned that he also sang with a sea shanty group. I gave him my card and said I'd like to attend their next gig.

To make a long story short, Peter visited my site, where he heard a couple of traditional sea songs I had arranged for the banjo and recorded. He sent me an invite to join the all-volunteer group with members from several countries, which was re-forming as the Shanty Choir Tallship MIR (Facebook link).

For me, this was a breath of musical fresh air. I love American roots music, but I'd been doing it FOREVER. Sea shanties are sheer fun. You get to play dress-up and act crude and nobody thinks you're senile! Also, working out banjo parts for sea songs the group was performing was a fresh challenge.

Joining the shanty choir unexpectedly turned on the songwriting juice. In ridiculously short order I wrote 6 original sea songs, and they're still coming. You can listen to the ones I've had time to record so far using the player widget below, and on my Music page. You can be first to hear new recordings if you join News for Me Scurvy Crew (a.k.a my email list) - sometimes even during the production process. You'll also get access to exclusive videos and other goodies.

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